Amazed by new products

[Bill in Oregon]

Boy, am I slipping as I get older. I used to pride myself on keeping up with what's new in shooting; now I am ashamed. I had no idea RCBS had introduced a radically new press in the Summit model.
And then just last night I became aware of Hi Tek bullet coatings, the baked polymer finishes that allow you to run just about any old lead slug as fast as you want without leading.
Anybody using either of these products?

[TedH]

I haven't used the Hi Tek coatings, but I have been powder coating my cast bullets. It's basically putting a polymer "jacket" on them. They leave the barrel sparkling clean, I can push them as fast as I want with no leading, though that's not my goal all the time. And you can use different colors of powder coat for identifying certain loads, but I just go with black for all mine.

[Bill in Oregon]

Ted, can 'splain your process? What products are you using and how do you apply them? I don't need kodachrome slugs, just slick ones.

[TedH]

There are a couple ways to apply the powder coat. I started off mixing the "powder" with acetone and tumbling them, then baking, but I wasn't satisfied with the looks or the coverage from the tumbling process. So I got an actual powder coat gun off Ebay for about 65 bucks. The powder can be bought in many different colors, from many places. I get mine from my local Harbor Freight store. It's about $5 for a pound, and it goes a long way. The powder is very, very fine, almost like baby powder or flour. The spray gun is similar to a paint gun, but it has a self contained fan or blower that picks up the powder and sprays it out in a fine mist. The spray gun has electrodes that make use of a sort of static charge to get the polymer powder to adhere to the bullets, then they are baked at 400 degrees for 15 minutes to melt the powder and "set" it. Once cooled the powder coat jacket is very tough and smooth. Here's a 38 Spl that I powder coated. I thought it would be faster than conventional lubrisizer process, but it's not, it's actually more time consuming, but I think the results are worth the extra time it takes. It does add a slight amount to the diameter of the bullets, but they can be resized after being coated with no harm to the coating, it's that tough.

38 Spl.jpeg

[Blaine]

I have to get out more. I thought Lee Alox was at the apex for cast bullet prep. I don't believe my cast boolits lead the barrel at about 1700 fps, but, then again, that's really not that fast.

[Griff]

I knew about the new press, but the coating thing is news.

[Bill in Oregon]

Well now that's pretty cool Ted.
Blaine, Griff, amigos, you must be hunkered down in a cave just like me, while the earth keeps on turning. Did you know Mr. Coolidge is no longer in the White House?

[Blaine]

Well now that's pretty cool Ted.
Blaine, Griff, amigos, you must be hunkered down in a cave just like me, while the earth keeps on turning. Did you know Mr. Coolidge is no longer in the White House?

Now, his butler is

[Mac in Mo]

I also need to get out more! Powder coated bullets? What's next, smokeless powder?
Cave dwellers,unite!

Kevin

[Griff]

Well now that's pretty cool Ted.
Blaine, Griff, amigos, you must be hunkered down in a cave just like me, while the earth keeps on turning. Did you know Mr. Coolidge is no longer in the White House?

Now, his butler is

I'm still lamenting the fact that Teddy is no longer in residence!

[AJMD429]

Well if that powder coating adds a little bit of diameter it might be just the thing for all those over-bored Rossi and Marlin lever guns...

[yooper2]

I've messed with the powder coating a bit. I mostly used it with rifle bullets that were plain base that I felt would be worth driving faster than I was capable of at the time. Basically like a spray on gas check of sorts. It is quite time consuming and as Ted said, a powder coating gun is the way to go. Largely gave it up as with good lube, proper sizing, and proper alloy I can reach all of my goals without it. Looked neat though.


Eric

[BenT]

Ted is the base of the bullet powder coated also?

[TedH]

Ted is the base of the bullet powder coated also?

Ben I don't coat the bases of mine. The rifle bullets that I push fast are gas checked anyway, and the pistol bullets, well they just don't need the bases coated. I've read of some guys that do, but you have to figure out a way to hold them on the spraying/baking tray upside down. Then you have a naked front end of the bullet, unless you bake and turn them over and respray the top then bake again. Honestly, I don't think there is any reason to coat the bases. The bullets aren't subjected to the heat long enough for any lead to melt or cause problems. You can get them coated all over if you tumble them, but like I said in my other post, I didnt like the coverage or the "splotchy" appearance of the tumbled bullets. Here's a powder coated 375 Winchester Ranch Dog bullet. Resized, and gas checked after powder coating was applied.

375 Winchester.jpeg

[mikld]

I've been playing with powder coating for few weeks. I don't use a gun, yet, but I have one in transit. I tumble cleaned bullets in powder (similar to alox lubing), then bake @ 350 degrees for 20 minutes. I have only done a couple hundred but the process is easier, faster, less messy than pan lubing, and way cleaner than tumbling in alox or 45-45-10. I have measured bullets before and after coating and most seen to come in at about .002"-.003" larger after coating. Resizing is simple, just run them through a Lee sizing die and coating stays in place.

Extensive coverage of different methods of powder coating here; http://castboolits.gunloads.com/forumdi ... ternatives

[Rusty]

over on the castboolit site there is about a week's worth of reading on cast bullets.